Viswanathan Anand retained the world chess championship on Wednesday by defeating Boris Gelfand in a series of tiebreaker games in a title match in Moscow. Mr. Anand, who is from India, earned $1.4 million for the victory; Mr. Gelfand, an Israeli, will receive $1.1 million. Mr. Anand, 42, has been the chess champion since 2007 and went into the match as the clear favorite. But Mr. Gelfand, 43, was very well prepared, and he kept surprising and befuddling Mr. Anand in the openings of the games. In a telephone interview afterward, Mr. Anand, who defended the title in matches in 2008 and 2010, said that this chess match was his most difficult. He complimented his opponent’s preparation. “He did many things that he had never …

Moscow: Viswanathan Anand received a gold medal, prize money of USD 1.4 million (around Rs. 7.9 crores), a memento and a piece of contemporary art displaying him and challenger Boris Gelfand, for his world chess championship win at a ceremony here on Thursday.

Stating that his connection with Russia has been very deep, Anand said, “I benefitted a lot from playing chess in Russian Cultural center in Chennai and my second Grandmaster norm was also made at the Cultural center in New Delhi. The connection with Russia is quite deep, as I also played a lot of tournaments here while growing up.”

Anand, who won in a nail-biting finish in rapid tie-break games, wished Gelfand good luck and mentioned that Gelfand always greeted him warmly before each game, ensuring that the match was played in the right spirit.

Anand also thanked the sponsors and FIDE for organising the world championship and also acknowledged the support of his wife (Aruna) and his team here at the State Tretyakov Gallery.

The speculation over Anand’s team also ended. It remained the same as it was four years back with Peter Hiene Nielsen, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Radek Wojtajsek and Surya Shekhar Ganguly as his seconds for this match too.

Speaking about the importance of computers in today’s world of chess, Anand noted that they had made a difference but were not complete in themselves.

“Definitely computers have levelled a lot of ground but we still see that those with a structured frame of knowledge in chess make better use of computers than the others, the human interaction is also important, computer itself is not complete,” he said.

Before the final ceremony the world champion also met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had invited him for tea at his residence.

Anand mentioned to Putin about learning chess in a Russian cultural center in his home town to which the President replied, “So we brought this on ourselves”!

“I really enjoyed it, the President was fully aware about the match, was very warm and friendly. For me it was an honour,” Anand said on his meeting with Putin.

When asked about the eventual tie-breaker that happened or whether they wanted another rule Anand was clear that tie-break was the perfect solution, “I actually think it’s a good idea given that we had 12-games to separate us, also it mirrors other sports as we have tie-break in many other games as well, I think it’s just fine instead of giving the title to defending champion in case of a tie which was an old practice, it means a half point lead to the defending champion.”

Anand also mentioned he thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere during the match and said he was not sure where the next match will be.

“This time also there was a bid from India for this match that did not materialise, it’s a complicated process,” said the world champion.

Israelis have been riveted by Boris Gelfand’s three-week battle for world chess supremacy. Despite coming up just short this week, losing in a sudden-death round, his efforts have attracted new fans and drawn attention to Israel as a surprising chess powerhouse.

His duel with world chess champion Viswanathan Anand of India was broadcast live on Israeli TV, thousands joined Gelfand fan pages on Facebook and his moves became water cooler talk in Israel — even among those who can’t tell the difference between a rook and a bishop.

Anand retained his title in Moscow on Wednesday, beating Gelfand 2.5-1.5 in a rapid tiebreaker round — the chess equivalent of a penalty shootout — after the two tied at 6-6 after 12 regular games.

Gelfand came one point short of claiming a title once held by the likes of chess greats Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov.

The Russian-speaking Gelfand was supported by Russian fans throughout the match as if he were a home player.

In Israel, “Gelfand-mania” was already in full steam by then. So many people logged on to watch him that the Israel Chess Federation said its website crashed.

Even in defeat, Gelfand made the front pages of Israeli newspapers, topped the evening newscasts and fielded congratulatory phone calls from Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I followed your moves and I was impressed. When you were thinking, I thought about what you were thinking,” Netanyahu, who plays some chess himself, told him. “You created great interest among many people about chess thanks to your example.”

In his post-match interview, Gelfand said he hoped his performance will boost interest to chess among Israelis.

Despite limited interest among the native-born, Israel has surged to become a top five chess nation, thanks mostly to a large influx of Soviet immigrants. Israel has some 50 grandmasters and has earned medals in the past two Chess Olympiads, said Almog Burstein, the executive director of the Israel Chess Federation.

“Gelfand is the deputy world champion and rightfully so. He brought the country great honor,” said Burstein, the chess official. “Gelfand may have lost, but chess in Israel won.”

He said some 3,000 Israelis play in leagues, and dozens have won international tournaments. He said the achievements were reached without generous government support.

“With more investment, Israel won’t just be in the top five in the world, it will be number one,” he said.

One of the main backers of chess in Israel is Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet Jewish dissident who spent more than a decade in prison. A child chess prodigy, Sharansky said he kept his sanity while in solitary confinement at a Siberian prison camp by playing chess against himself in his mind.

Later, as a Cabinet minister in 1998, he helped Gelfand immigrate from Belarus to help boost the local chess scene.

“When he arrived he was 30, and we thought that was the height of his career, but for the past 13 years he has just been getting better and better,” said Sharansky, who now heads the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency, which helps Jews immigrate to Israel.

Sharansky, who has played — and drawn — Gelfand twice, said Netanyahu called him several times during the tournament to discuss the grandmaster’s maneuvers.

It is an 11 rounds Swiss tournament with time control 25 mins + 10 sec per move. Every female player with the Elo of 2500+ in one of the official FIDE rating lists as well as all former World Champions and Olympic Champions have the personal right to participate in the Championship. Besides, every national federation can nominate one player for participation in the Championship. In addition, up to five more players can be nominated from the same federation, provided they have Elo of 2300+ in one of the official FIDE rating lists in 2012.